Introduction and Beginner's Rod Search

Since this is my first post, I'll introduce myself a little bit. My name is Chris and I live in central Virginia, in sight of the Blue Ridge mountains, but still in the piedmont. I have a small warmwater creek in my backyard full of smallmouth, redbreast, bullheads, suckers, and white catfish. There are other species too, but none of the fish are terribly large. I also enjoy fishing the public ponds, streams, and rivers nearby, including Smith Mountain Lake and the James River around Lynchburg. I have a canoe, but most of the time I fish from shore or by wading.

I've been flyfishing since late September, when I bought an inexpensive fly fishing kit to see if I liked it. I did like it, of course, and have been practicing regularly through the winter, mostly on the lawn, but occasionally on water. This brings me to my question for the group. I have improved my casting dramatically since last Fall, but I think my rod is holding me back. I have been thinking of getting a new rod/reel package in the $200 range and want to see what opinions people have. For the purpose of simplicity, I'd prefer to see comments limited to the 5 I've selected, although if I've overlooked something that is very compelling, bringing that up would be OK too.

Here are the combos I'm considering:
-Temple Fork Outfitters / NXT 5/6 weight
-St. Croix / Rio Santo 6 weight
-Redington / Pursuit 6 weight
-Orvis / Streamline 6 weight
-LL Bean / Streamlight 6 weight

Since my existing rod is a 5/6 weight and smallmouth are going to be one of my top species, I've been thinking about getting a 7 weight. That would give me a light rod and a heavy rod, but I may just buy a replacement to my old rod. Unfortunately, it appears only the LL Bean also comes in a 7 weight, the others jump straight to the 8 weight.

Is there any compelling reason, other than price, why I should choose one over the other? My thought is that I would probably do well with any of these outfits, but I wanted to see if anyone has a good reason why one is better or another is sub-par.

Waskeyc;
Welcome aboard from next door in Tennessee. I'm sure you'll hear blenty on which rig to get. Most of the Smallmouth fly fisher go dwith a 6 wt so you may want to look at a 3 or 4 wt.

Welcome! I have to say my first rod was a Clearwater and a BBS 6 wt. A good choice all around. I also have a St Croix 4 wt and a TFO 9 wt. These are all good rods. I just have to go with the Clearwater as a first choice. You may also want to take a look at Tenkara.

Orvis Streamline 4 piece. I purchased 8 of them after trying them. They are used for teaching purposes and our students do quite well with them. The quality and package deal (rod, reel, line, backing, tippet, case, book) is worth every penny (Just over 200 canadian). Just as a side thought and my opion only, I would suggest a 5 weight and no more than a 6 unless your smallies are very large. You'll have more fun:D

Rod recommendations are going to be based on reliability, but you can only know what's best for you by feeling them in the store.
At this point in your career, the most important thing is to realize that your reel will mostly act as a line holder except for that rare monster smallie. You may never get to the backing. Actually, you may only occasionally get on the reel.
So...
Go for something decent and affordable and you can use the money you save on the reel to get a more expensive rod. My recommendation is BassPro's Hobb's Creek reel (of which I own six). http://www.basspro.com/Hobbs-Creek-L...t/44558/124551
They are about $40 and very light weight and I've not had one fail even on largemouth up to 6 lbs.

I have never seen in person the LL Bean gear.

Based in my experience helping out in a local fly shop (we have TFO, Orvis, other local shops have St. Croix and Redington so I have been able evaluate those also), of the other four, I think the Redington combo is the best value. It includes a great fly line and I think it has the best reel of the bunch.

I think the Redington and the St. Croix rods are the better performers across the wide range of casting distances and conditions, but this is highly subjective. I really like the TFO also. All would be quite good and give many years of service.

TFO has the best Rod warranty for rod breakage. They turn around very fast and have the lowest processing fee. Redington has a good warranty too with a slightly higher processing fee. The St. Croix has a 5yr warranty and a processing fee a bit more than the other two. The Orvis warranty on the Streamline rods is one year on only material defects, and does not include accidental breakage.

Not sure about LL Bean's warranty but they are known for phenomenal customer service.

Good quality cork handles seem to have become scarce on mid to low end rods. The TFO NXT rod has a composite cork handle may prove to be more durable.

The Redington combo comes with the excellent Rio Mainstream line. The others come with unidentified fly lines.

I think the best bang per buck is the Redington, closely followed by the TFO, then the St. Croix, and the Orvis. Since I have no experience with the LL Bean I cannot comment on that one. We have had one Orvis Streamline combo in the store and it has not sold, compared to dozens of the TFO NXT combos.

Just my opinion - I think that the 2-piece Streamlight Ultra Combos are hard to beat. I own the Streamlight combos in 5-6-7 weight and they are a joy to fish with and light in the hand. I have other fly rods and enjoy them all, but, the Streamlight combo was in your list and I can recommend them without any worries.

Wow, what a great response in the first 24 hours! This place is great! :D I appreciate all of the responses so far. It sounds like my initial thought that I can't go wrong with any rod in this lineup was correct.

A little more on my reasoning behind wanting a 7-wt. Although I know a 7-wt will be heavier and more tiring to cast, as well as overkill for landing most smallmouth, I'm thinking about casting heavy lures. My kit rod can lay out a floating fly with relative ease, but when I tie on a clouser minnow or a popper, it turns into a ball-and-chain. I think a 7-wt will cast the smallmouth-sized lures much better, although I admit I'd much rather throw a 5-wt because it's lighter.

I'm also aware that the reel is not critical. Unless I hook a giant catfish or something, I have no intention of using the reel except to hold my line. Certainly with the sunfish that I catch most of the time, stripping them in by hand is no sweat. On the other hand, the combos include not just a reel, but also WF line and backing, which can be quite costly if purchased separately.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by waskeyc

I'm also aware that the reel is not critical. Unless I hook a giant catfish or something, I have no intention of using the reel except to hold my line.

---

I see and hear people say that all the time, get a decent reel with a good drag system, I have a couple of the reels Coach Bob recommended in the bottom of Hooch (they don't float well) and a couple on rods. You never know when a good bass, grass carp or catfish is going to take your fly. I have landed all of the above in weights from 5.5 to 7.5 lbs. I have lost some nice fish becaue I did not get them on the reel where I could fight them using the drag.

You have received a lot of good info. Since I don't personnally own any of your choice combos I'll just say a big HOWDY and welcome to FAOL from SoCal. Jim

Welcome aboard!

For me when fling clousers I find a 6 wt is plenty enough. With streamers and heavier flies like a clouser I use a fast action rod as I find medium (or even medium-fast) action or slower to be more work in fine tuning your casting stroke with heavy flies.

Hello Chris,

We could be neighbors, or at least close. Fishing in the Lynchburg area, I have never found a need to go with anything heavier than a 6 wt. I use weighted wooly-buggers and large poppers and the 6 wt handles them quite well with a WF line. Havent used or tried any of the rods you have mentioned but I would suggest, if it hasn't already been done by others here, that you put each one of the rods "to the test" and try them out. One of them is bound to click with you. Im sure you will find the best that suits.

George

I have both the TFO NXT 5/6 and LL Bean Streamlight. Both are good introductory outfits. The Streamlight cast nicely but, the reel is only ok. I ended up buying a Lamson Konic for it. Also, bought another reel for the TFO but, the reel that comes with it is more than adequite. If you have any more question about these outfits send me a PM.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Uncle Jesse

I see and hear people say that all the time, get a decent reel with a good drag system, I have a couple of the reels Coach Bob recommended in the bottom of Hooch (they don't float well) and a couple on rods. You never know when a good bass, grass carp or catfish is going to take your fly. I have landed all of the above in weights from 5.5 to 7.5 lbs. I have lost some nice fish becaue I did not get them on the reel where I could fight them using the drag.

---

So we've got a guy known as Uncle Jesse having problems with his Hooch...?

ed